2018 in numbers - my first year as a VC

Today, flying back home from the HV Christmas party, my first full year as a VC is coming to a close. Being a nerd, I thought it would be interesting to share how my job looks like, by the numbers, and reflect a bit.

• In 2018 I handled 274 investment opportunities. At HV we enter an opportunity in our Salesforce when we spend more than a few minutes evaluating it. So random conference panels don’t count. I feel pretty comfortable with this number, it shows I’ve cast a wide net.
• Of these 274 investment opportunities, 54 came from colleagues. On the other hand I passed 32 on to others. As a firm we could probably be more cooperative in sharing dealflow (including myself).
• I met or spoke with 98 teams. I love talking to founders, even just to learn (and I hope they don’t see it as a complete waste of their time). 
• The declined deals were open for 18 days on average. Obviously many deals are declined quickly, others stay open longer for due diligence, or due to circumstances beyond our control (e.g. scheduling etc). However I think this should be faster.
• The four investments were relatively fast, one of the trademarks of HV. On average it took 60 days from first contact to signing the deal. This average is a bit misleading, as one complex deal took 99 days. Generally HV turns around within 30-45 days, all in. Not bad.
• Two companies HV invested in were sourced at events, two came from the network. Events sometimes have a bad rep, however I feel e.g. Slush has a super-efficient matchmaking process that leads to good results. Also e.g. Pirate Summit, with it’s quirky style, attracts cool founders. 
• In 2018 I took 72 flights and was on the road 102 days (at least partially). Luckily HV has decided to offset our carbon emissions. While video conferencing is great, getting to know founders personally, and seeing the companies they build, is essential.
• I would have loved to show how my time breaks down between Dealflow, Portfolio, Internal Meetings etc but the Mac version of Outlook doesn’t allow exporting (boo Microsoft). Broadly looking at my calendar I spend ca. 50% of my time on dealflow, with the rest divided in portfolio work as well as internal stuff (e.g. our investment committee).

I’m not a big believer in new year’s resolutions. However for 2019 I would like to be faster in processes, write better rejection letters and be even more proactive in seeking out deals vs inbound.

Enjoy the holidays, 2019 will be exciting!

P.S. Interested in reading more from me? Check out my Medium articles.